I need to know if the following idea is (1) doable, (2) already done by someone, and (3) [if not 2] how to approach the problem.
We would like to have announcements placed on our wiki. The best place to put them would be the Main Page... assuming that everyone used the Main Page, that is. The problem is that many folks use a search plug-in or bookmarks to get to where they need. The next best place would be a login page but our authentication is handled externally and you'll never see a login page on our wiki.
So, what I would like to explore is some way to forcefully redirect a user to an announcement. For example, User A is browsing the wiki. User B adds an announcement. User A clicks a new link (or does a new Search, etc). We'd like to see User A redirected to the announcement. The announcement page would show the oldest announcement with a 'acknowledge' link/button. If there were more then one announcement, they'd get directed to the next, etc. Until finally being redirected to the original page they were requesting.
At this point, I'm not fixed on any particular method of storing the announcements, but something simple like having "/wiki/Announcements/<Announcement Title>" contain the announcement text. Then have the extension store the page ID as 'LastAckedAnnouncement' in user.user_options.
We are running mediawiki-1.7.1. I know we're a bit behind, but we have so many little tweaks to the core code that upgrading is a major project.
Thoughts?
Dan
On 12/03/07, Dan Davis hokie99cpe+wiki@gmail.com wrote:
We would like to have announcements placed on our wiki. The best place to put them would be the Main Page... assuming that everyone used the Main Page, that is. The problem is that many folks use a search plug-in or bookmarks to get to where they need. The next best place would be a login page but our authentication is handled externally and you'll never see a login page on our wiki.
[[MediaWiki:Sitenotice]]?
Wikimedia used something for the site notice in the last fundraising drive, such that when you'd read the begging message you could click to make it go away (until it was updated again). A custom extension which isn't on Sounds like just the thing for you, if it runs on 1.7.1.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_sitenotice_2006_Q4
- d.
Also, use [[MediaWiki:Watchlisttext]] (I think that's it - search [[Special:Allmessages]] if not) for extra effect.
On 3/12/07, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/03/07, Dan Davis hokie99cpe+wiki@gmail.com wrote:
[[MediaWiki:Sitenotice]]?
Wikimedia used something for the site notice in the last fundraising drive, such that when you'd read the begging message you could click to make it go away (until it was updated again). A custom extension which isn't on Sounds like just the thing for you, if it runs on 1.7.1.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_sitenotice_2006_Q4
Maybe this is something that was changed after 1.7.1, but sitenotice will display a site-wide notice, but there is no link to close it in 1.7.1. Upgrading MW is planned, but low priority, unfortunately.
Also, sitenotice works for now to cover our initial need, it's not as robust as I would like. First, it's meant for a single notice... you update that notice and folks see that update. We're looking more for a news item style. Multiple items... if someone hasn't accessed the wiki in a while, they need to be bombarded with all the missed items. And, no, we can't rely on them to go to a particular page to see those items. And forcing a certain page or pages into everyone's watchlist won't cut it either. Our users are flooded with email as is and that's why the PTBs want site notices/announcements on the wiki. Most folks gloss over their email and delete seemingly unimportant items. The thought here is that putting it in front of their faces on the wiki *may* cause a bit more retention of the content. :) Silly users... always making my life hard.
Thanks for the ideas thus far... keep 'em coming. :D
Dan
On 12/03/07, Dan Davis hokie99cpe+wiki@gmail.com wrote:
Maybe this is something that was changed after 1.7.1, but sitenotice will display a site-wide notice, but there is no link to close it in 1.7.1. Upgrading MW is planned, but low priority, unfortunately.
No, that's a separate function that comes from the DismissableSiteNotice extension.
Rob Church
What about a bot that spams user's talk pages so they see "You have new messages"?
On 12/03/07, Rob Church robchur@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/03/07, Dan Davis hokie99cpe+wiki@gmail.com wrote:
Maybe this is something that was changed after 1.7.1, but sitenotice will display a site-wide notice, but there is no link to close it in 1.7.1. Upgrading MW is planned, but low priority, unfortunately.
No, that's a separate function that comes from the DismissableSiteNotice extension.
Rob Church
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